If you want to earn more, you must learn more.
That was said by the late Zig Ziglar. One of today’s most powerful motivational speakers.
Oprah Winfrey is another public figure who attributes her entire success to books.
She’s always said that her desire to learn about the world through books piqued her interest and gave her the courage to go out and conquer the world, which we all know she did.
I believe that a mindset that does not serve the people of Africa is stifling the continent’s progress.
It is unfortunate that people are more drawn to entertainment content than to content that will make them wiser and more valuable in their ability to innovate and create great things for the people of Africa.
When I scroll through Facebook, I shake my head in dismay at the content that has received the most likes, views, shares, and comments from my African friends, as shown in the screenshot below.
Look at how many people like this video! 3.6 million people want to know what Davido’s house looks like on the inside. After that, they go back to their own lives and pay their bills.
There’s nothing wrong with being happy for the success of others, but make sure you work harder on your own.
I do sometimes do something fun for myself, but not before I’m done with my work. For me, entertainment is like a reward for hard work. I’d rather buy a book than a new pair of shoes or an expensive wig because I’d rather learn something useful that has the potential to serve me and my commuinity.
Does that make me a strange mellenial? Perhaps.
Nonfiction books are my favourite because they give me the chance to learn from someone who has spent years researching or experiencing a topic and then wrote a book about how to make it easier for me.
If you don’t pay attention to what’s in a good book, it will take you much longer or maybe you’ll never get the result that the book already told you how to get.
The Bible even tells us, “My people perish because they don’t know.”
Just pick up a book and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and heartache.
People don’t learn as much as they should, which is why the African community isn’t making as much progress as it should.
Africa has a lot of resources, but resources that have never been used have never built a country or a continent.
Young people would rather listen to gossip news or watch TV shows with bad language than figure out how to use what they already have to live the life they want.
They often can’t wait to spend hours drinking and wasting time in a nightclub instead of putting their money into health insurance, a coaching programme, a book, or even better, a business opportunity.
We scream about how there aren’t enough opportunities as if the people who start businesses are gods.
People in the west start businesses when they’re 17 years old, but in Africa, we’re more focused on getting a job.
Not many people want to be the ones to do something uncomfortable to learn how to start their own business or, even better, to learn more and get better at their job so they can do their job better.
I dare you to go on social media right now and look at the posts that young Africans like the most.
If you find any that teach you something, please let me know, and I’ll be glad to know I was wrong.
When we talk about learning, here are some websites where you can take free courses that could change your life.
- Edx
- Coursera
- Online courses by Alison
- Oxford Home Study Centre
- LinkedIn Learning
- Udacity
- Udemy
- Skillshare
- Gymnasium
Some of these platforms will give you a certificate that you can add to your portfolio to apply for promotions, change careers, or even start your own business from scratch.
If you can’t buy books, you can get free educational books from these sites.
- Manybooks
- Free computer books
- Librivox
- Project Gutenberg
- Read Print
- Feedbooks
- Wikibooks
- Open Library
- Google Playbooks
- Free-eBooks.net
Yesterday, when I was talking to my partner, he started to list all the ways I make money and asked me how I do it all.
For example, I bought a lot of journals on Amazon before I learned how to make them using Canva. Now that I know how to make them myself, I use my Amazon account to sell them to other people.
These are some of the journals I’ve made for my own use, but they are also available to the public.
What are you doing with your own time?Â
Young people complain that they can’t access online learning because they don’t have enough internet data, but when they do, they use it to like, comment, and share gossip news instead of learning something that would help them earn money to buy more data another day.
“Life is what you make of it, and the choices you make spice up your life.”
I recently posted about personal development in a WhatsApp group I belong to, and someone told me to focus on my own personal development because not everyone wanted to get rich.
This is a common way of thinking in Africa, which is sad.
People who are unhappy don’t want other people to do well because they’re afraid they won’t have anyone to hang out with.
The way young people act around the content they are interested in says a lot about them, and it is clear that nothing will change if nothing changes.
You all get excited about things that don’t matter, but then you turn around and blame the government, your family, and anyone else you have a grudge against for your own happiness.
It is truly everyone else’s fault that you are poor, and is there nothing you can do about it?
If what you say is true, then this quote from Thomas Jefferson is probably false and pointless.
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
–Thomas Jefferson
In reality, 99% of our success comes from how well we plan, and only 1% comes from what we do. If you spend time getting ready for an opportunity that hasn’t come up yet, when it does, it will be in line with what you’ve done.
But that’s not true for most young Africans, and most people who aren’t successful are dying because they don’t know enough—the kind of knowledge that will make them more employable and worthy of a promotion.
I remember seeing interviews with both Elon Musk (the richest man on the planet) and Warren Buffet (the fifth richest man), and they both said that knowledge was their number one superpower and that they spent hours reading instead of watching Netflix or reading gossip news.
“Most people know more about the lives of celebrities than they actually know about their life goals.”
~Tony Robbins
Also, we don’t have to do much or anything to have fun, but it takes a lot of work, self-discipline, intention, and consistency to learn something.
I wrote an article a while ago about unorthodox friends we all should have, and I strongly recommend for you to read it next. It will show you very clearly what you need to do to learn more.
Read also Who Are Your Friends?
My call to action is for you to step up and step into your God-given potential.
You have greatness in you, and you must stop wasting your time, minding other people’s business.
Sharing is caring. Share this with an African. Let’s build our continent together.
Also may also Read
How Africans Can Start Earning Money from Home
Million-dollar Business Opportunities for African Entrepreneurs.
The Grass is Greener Where You Water The Ground
Stop Making Excuses about your Skin Colour or Circumstances. We can all be successful!
2 comments
Amazing amazing great leader,really the youths need leaders like you so as to improve on Thier mindsets and how they see opportunities.thank you for sharing.i pray God keeps inspiring you to impact lives.
Thank you so so much darling. It’s only going to get better!